In a Town Full of Secrets
by MissMysticLiar
Summary: Brittany Adams is just a normal sixteen year old who attends Mystic Falls High School, but in a town full of secrets how long can her life stay normal?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one:

I awoke startled by the sound of my alarm clock. Before I even had time to hit the snooze button I heard my mom calling from downstairs "Time to get up Brittany, it's the first day of school!" Ugh. Another year at Mystic Falls High School.

Mystic Falls sounds like it would be a magical place, but it's not. It's just a boring little town in Virginia. I'm not sure why I was thinking of that as I drove into the parking lot, but I was. Bored of the small town I guess.

"Britt!" my friend Isabella squealed as she ran up to me. "Are you excited for the first day of our junior year?" she exclaimed, tossing her golden hair over her shoulder. "As I'll ever be" I muttered. "Come on Britt, it's exciting!" "Why are you always so happy Bell?" The conversation continued as we walked into the school.

My first class was history. As I walked into the classroom I idly wondered how long this teacher would last, it was starting to seem like a cursed position. I found a seat near the middle of the room, a couple of seats away from April Young who I've known since elementary school. I waved, then the teacher walked in & said all the same things every teacher says on the first day of school. The rest of my day went basically the same way.

After school Isabella & I went to the Mystic Grill. We were hungry, & Bell likes to stare at Damon Salvatore who's always sitting at the bar. "He's here!" she whispered way too loudly. "When's he not?" I replied. She rolled her eyes & found a table that was close enough to get a good view. "I wish he'd notice me..." she groaned. Damon glanced over & smirked. If I didn't know better I would've sworn he'd heard her.

"I'm pretty sure he has a girlfriend Bell" I said the next day as Isabella talked about how he smiled at her for the fiftieth time. I'm pretty sure I'll never hear the end of it. "But still!" she retorted, as if that was a valid argument. I rolled my eyes and tried to change the subject. "Can you believe we have English & history homework on the second day of school?"

Can Brittany's life stay this normal in a town full of secrets?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two:

I turned on the TV & pulled my dark hair up into a ponytail. There was another mysterious disappearance in Mystic Falls. There had been a lot of those in the last couple of years. As I was trying to think of something else Damon's smirk popped into my mind. Why hadn't I been able to get that out of my head?

"Did you hear about the disappearance?" my mom asked. "Yeah" I replied, "I didn't know her." I set my backpack down & got a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. "I'll see you after school Brittany." "Bye mom." I drove to school methodically trying not to think about it.

As soon as I got my car parked Isabella ran up looking as excitable as ever. "Did you hear that that girl disappeared?" she asked as if there was anyone who hadn't heard. "Yeah, so did you finish your English homework?" I asked, changing the subject. "Actually, I did." She responded, "Wow." "It's not that unusual!" she said defensively. "Whatever you say" I replied.

You could hear whispers all through the hallways. Everyone had heard the news; it was always like this the day of a disappearance. I opened my locker and put my books inside, trying not to listen to everyone talking. I walked to my history class; everyone in there was talking about it too. I opened my history book trying to ignore it. April Young walked over "how are you?" she asked. "I'm fine, really" she smiled a little a knowing look on her face and walked away.

About an hour later I got called into the counselor's office just like I knew I would. There had been a few days like this. "How are you feeling?" she asked, as I sat down in the chair across from her desk. "I'm okay" I said, hoping she would let me leave. "Your sister disappeared just a little over a year ago, so I like to see how you're doing on days like today" she said sounding sympathetic. "I'm doing fine" I replied, trying not to sound impatient. I hated the counselor's office; I'd been in here a lot last year. "I just want to go back to class" The counselors office was all gray & sad looking & it made me think back to last year, which I was trying my best not to do. "Okay" she said reluctantly.

Everyone stared at me when I walked back into the classroom. They all knew about my sister. I ran my fingers through my hair nervously as I sat down & tried to listen to the teacher. When the bell rang I walked quickly to my next class to avoid the whispers in the halls.

A couple of hours later I was sitting in the lunchroom with Isabella. She was talking about some movie she saw on TV last night. She always knew when to distract me. I bit into my apple nodding along as she rambled. After a while she asked "so, do you want to go to the Mystic Grill with me after school? I want to see if he smiles at me again." "Okay Bell" I laughed, I needed a distraction anyway.

So after school we were sitting at the Grill & I was watching Isabella watch Damon when Sheriff Forbes walked over to him & they started whispering quietly. "They seem so secretive" I said softly "It seems like she tells him stuff that other people don't know." "I wonder what they're saying" Isabella said. Just then Caroline, Sheriff Forbes daughter, walked in & went over to where they were. She graduated last year. She'd always reminded me a little bit of Isabella.

"Don't stare at them Bell!" I whispered harshly. "I want to know what they're saying!" she replied, "I'm trying to read their lips." "They're going to see you, stop!" Caroline looked over, whispered something to the others & they walked farther away, so that we couldn't see them anymore. I thought of the smirk again. "I'm going to go home now, I'll see you tomorrow Bell." "Why are you leaving so soon?" she asked. "I just, I don't feel well," she nodded assuming it was because of my sister.

When I got home, my mom ran over immediately. "You're home! How was your day? How do you feel?" she was more protective on days like today. "I'm fine mom, I'm just going to go study," when I walked in I tried not to notice the scrap books lying on the table, opened to photos of my sister. I walked up the stairs quietly. I sat on my bed & opened my geometry book, I tried to focus on the work to calm down, but it didn't really help. I grabbed my iPod from my desk & turned the music on louder than I normally would to drown out my thoughts.

I sat that way for a few hours, but eventually my mom called me to come down for dinner. She had put the scrap books away, but she knew I'd seen them. "I have to look at pictures of Chloe on days like today" she said quietly. "I know mom," I responded. "She would've been a senior this year," my mom said wistfully. "I know" I said, barely louder than a whisper. After that we ate in silence.

As I got ready for bed I couldn't help but think about Chloe, none of us knew what happened to her. I wondered if people would ever know what happened to the girl that disappeared today. As I walked into my room I looked over at the picture of me & Chloe at the beach a few summers back. I sat on my bed sadly, hoping everything would be back to normal tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

Thankfully, the next day it was mostly forgotten about. I had a fairly normal day at school and no one stared or whispered. I didn't get called to the counselor's office & no one asked me how I felt. I didn't have to lie to anyone or pretend like everything was okay. It was just another day.

It was Friday, and after school Isabella & I went shopping. She was trying on a pretty red dress, so I was standing outside the dressing rooms waiting to tell her what I thought of it. Suddenly Caroline Forbes walked up looking like she was in a hurry. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked, sounding like it was important. "Yeah, sure, what is it?" I asked feeling slightly uneasy. Why did Caroline want to talk to me? "Did you hear anything when I was talking to Damon & my mom at the Grill yesterday?" she asked in a loud whisper. "No, I didn't. Why?" I asked wondering how she could've known we were even paying attention to their conversation. "It's just, it was kind of personal & I saw your friend watching us & well, I just wanted to make sure you didn't hear anything," she said quickly while running her hand through her hair nervously. "We didn't hear anything" I promised, "I was kind of distracted yesterday, I was probably just zoned out." "Oh right! You're sister. Sorry" I hadn't realized she remembered that. "I uh I have to go" she stammered and walked away just as Isabella came out of the dressing room.

For some reason I didn't tell Isabella about talking to Caroline. I had a weird feeling about it, and I'm pretty sure I would've sounded crazy if I said it out loud. I just knew she had heard Isabella talking about reading their lips, but how could she have heard that? Then I remembered Damon's smirk from a few days ago. I just had a funny feeling about all of this. I've always had an overactive imagination.

Isabella bought the dress & we continued to shop. "Should I try this on?" I asked holding up a lacey blue top. "Definitely" Isabella replied quickly motioning towards the dressing rooms. "Okay then" I replied. I walked into the dressing room & locked the door. As I tried on the shirt I couldn't help but think of my conversation with Caroline. I stood there for a minute debating about whether or not I liked the top. The minute I opened the door Isabella loudly exclaimed "buy it!" & so it was decided.

"Lunch?" Isabella asked casually. "Okay, but can we just eat here Bell?" I asked. I just couldn't get rid of the funny feeling I had & I wanted to stay away from the Mystic Grill. "Okay" Isabella responded sounding slightly confused.

"What movie should we watch tonight?" Isabella asked waving a French fry in the air. "Something fun" I replied. Isabella looked at me, slightly concerned. "It's not about Chloe" I promised "I'm just in a weird mood today". Isabella didn't look convinced but she didn't say anything.

"So why have you been acting so weird the last few days? I thought it was about Chloe, but this is different." Isabella said quickly, as if she was afraid she would offend me. It was a few hours later & we had just finished watching a comedy. "It's nothing Bell, just me & my overactive imagination" I said knowing she wouldn't drop it that quickly. "What's going on?" she said seriously. I knew she wouldn't drop it. "It's nothing" I said sounding too defensive. "What is it Brittany! Don't lie to me!" I could tell she was getting angry. "If I tell you you'll think I'm crazy! It's nothing!" I squeaked. She glared at me. "At the Grill when Damon smiled at you I'd swear that he heard you! & Caroline, Caroline Forbes talked to me today" I said stressing her name. "She was afraid that we'd overheard their conversation yesterday! When is the last time Caroline Forbes spoke to us, Bell?" by now I was screaming. "What are you saying Brittany?" Isabella asked. "I don't know! I don't know what I'm saying! It doesn't make any sense!" I screamed on the verge of tears. I was suddenly glad that my mom had had to work tonight. Isabella bit her lip but didn't respond.

"I don't know how to react to that" Isabella mumbled a few minutes later. "Why do you think I didn't want to tell you" I said with a nervous laugh. Isabella smiled; she clearly didn't know what to say again. "I should go to the store & get us some candy" I said looking for an excuse to get away from the awkwardness. "Are you sure you should go out by yourself? It's kind of late." "It's Mystic Falls Bell," I replied on my way out the door.

I walked slowly to my car, thankful for the fresh air. I really needed to clear my head. I was opening my car door when I heard it. "You should talk a little quieter you know" the voice said. I looked around quickly & saw a man standing in the shadows. I immediately turned back to get in my car. Not even two seconds had passed when he grabbed me.


End file.
